Amazon Studios Greenlights 5 More Kids’ Show Pilots

Internet retailer expands originals initiative with titles geared to children 6 to 11

AmazonStudios is delving into more kid stuff following its pilot-bakeoff this spring, announcing it will produce five more original pilots for kids including the first ones for children aged 6 to 11.

The pilots — a mix of live-action and animated shows — come from four established kidvid showrunners as well as a newcomer Amazon found through its over-the-transom development process. The pilots will be available free to watch on Amazon Instant Video in the U.S. and the LoveFilm service in the U.K., and the company will use viewer feedback to help decide which shows should be produced as series.

“For the first time we are offering live-action and animated programming for older children and continuing with entertaining, educational, programming for preschool-aged children — it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Amazon Studios director Roy Price said in announcing the new pilots.

With the deeper investment in original content, Amazon is going head-to-head with other online services creating Internet-only content — chiefly Netflix and Hulu, which are both upping their originals activity.

Amazon Studios did not say how many of the five it may choose to turn into full series.